Whicker: Crawford hoping he has finally found a home

LOS ANGELES – It has taken only four games for Staples Center to provide an overture for Jamal Crawford.

When he gathers for a big shot, with space and time on his side, Clippers fans start to build their noise before ball leaves hand.

It happened twice late Monday, with Crawford nailing two massive 3-pointers in the final five minutes.

But the prevalent sound was more of a blocked-punt exhale, in the face of all kinds of unlikely hero shots from rookie Dion Waiters and second-year wonder Kyrie Irving of Cleveland, which never blinked its dewy eyes in a remarkable 108-101 victory.

Irving is the league's Rookie of the Year, but Waiters and classmate Tyler Zeller were notably unafraid of the Clippers' reputation for last-minute heartbreak.

And the Clippers have to ask themselves what they've done to earn the right to play slovenly first halves, especially on the defensive board.

With Blake Griffin slow to dip his toe into the season, the highlight has been Crawford, 32, a spindly, friendly fellow with endless arms and a ravenous taste for scoring.

Crawford began his Clippers career with games of 29, 21 and 27 points and was fifth in NBA scoring coming into Monday. Still, he thought it was "kinda weird" to be back in L.A., on multiple levels.

For one thing, Crawford signed a four-year contract with the Clippers, which disappointed Mayflower and Bekins. This is his fifth team since the beginning of the 2008-09 season.

"Somebody told me today that I've played for 16 coaches, counting interim guys, in 12 years," he said Monday morning at the team shootaround. "That's unbelievable."

But he has not forgotten his first two tours of duty in Los Angeles, when he came to live with his father, Clyde, in Inglewood, "maybe seven minutes for The Forum."

There was nothing fabulous about it.

Gang violence dissuaded Crawford from even going to school, much less playing. Clyde, who played with Stan Love (Kevin's dad) at Oregon and was a friend of Ahmad Rashad's, put up a basket in the backyard, a sanctuary for which Jamal would yearn.

Crawford was 15 when he and his friend, Jalal Shams, were trying to catch a bus from a Dorsey High football game. They were approached by an older, more numerous group, and after some conversation Crawford watched Shams die of a gunshot to the head.

Weird, indeed.

"I was here when I was in the fourth and fifth grade, and then again when I was 13 until I was 16," Crawford said. "Just a lot of stuff going on. I wasn't focused like I should have been, on school and a lot of other stuff. I needed to get back to Seattle, where the rest of my family was.

"It's a sad reality. I knew anything could happen at any moment. When I came back to Seattle my dad came the next year. It was just different there."

Crawford was state player of the year at Rainier Beach High and was state player of the year. But he didn't have a qualifying score for college, so he repeated the 12th grade, since he had dropped out in L.A.

After one year at Michigan, it was have-shot, will-travel.

Crawford has played for the Bulls, Knicks, Warriors, Hawks, Trail Blazers and now the Clippers and at no time has been accused of shyness or unproductivity. He is a 15.3-point career averager, capable of unrelenting sizzle,

Crawford, Wilt Chamberlain, Moses Malone and Bernard King are the only NBA players in history with 50-point game for three teams (Knicks, Warriors, Bulls).

"What's funny is that I missed my first four shots when I did it for the Knicks (in 2007), including a dunk," he said. "The first time I scored 23 in the fourth quarter. But it's never just you. Once you get hot, your teammates know it and they find you.

But every year, he had to find himself, plus a new house.

"I felt like I'd found a home with the Knicks," he said. "We got off to a good start that year, and Zach Randolph and I were leading the team. But they were trying to clear cap space to sign LeBron James. And I totally understand that.

"Everything was good at Golden State, but Don Nelson thought Monta Ellis and I were pretty much the same player, so I moved on, went to Atlanta, got Sixth Man of the Year ... but then they committed a lot of money to their core, and there wasn't any for me.

"I've had the same coach in back-to-back years only twice. I've always been on the fly, always changing. I've been blessed, overall, but I'm comfortable here."